Car-door clamp



June 26, w23.

J. E.- cossAlRT CAR DOOR CLAMP Filed June 24. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet l failli/,Vl

@Noruega June 26, E923.

J. E. COSS/MRT CAR DOOR CLAMP Filed June 24. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gnomi Foz Patented June 26, 1923.

f' i UNITED STATES JAMES E. cossnrar, or PLATTE CENTER, NEBRASKA.

CAR-DOOR CLAMP.

Appucauonliea :rune 24, 1922. serial No. 570,602.

To' all whom t may concern: f

Be it known that I, JAMEsE. Cossnmfr, a citizen i. of the` United States, residing at Platte Center, in the county of Platte and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements. in Gar-Door Clamps, ofI which the following is a specification. f

i The present invention relates to improvements in the mannerof securing the doors of railway cars and more particularly to clamps for doorsvused on grain carrying cars. i

The main object of the invention is to make the doors tight in order to prevent grain leakage, about seventy-iive per cent of such cars having this defect.

Another object of theinvention is to subi stitute the ,tight fitting clamps `forming the slightest injury. ,V r

subject matter of this invention, for the prevaient `method of securingthe doors by nails or the like, which destroys more grain cars than anything else.I By using these clamps the life of the doors as well as the cars is considerably prolonged, as the doors may be positioned and removed rapidly without the One advantage ofthe `use of these clamps is that it requires muchless work and will take considerably less time to install or remove the doors, with a consequent saving in labor and expense. i

Another advantage inusingthis construc- I tionis that the doors are held firmly and 4will not rattle and there `isno chance for them to work `endwise. 1 i

l UThe preferred construction of the device is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: `j i Figure 1 is a perspective view Yof a grain car seen from the outside and with the clamp device installed, d i i Figure 2 is a sectional view along line 2-2 `offFigure 1,k A

Figure 3 i of the car,

Figure 4 is a perpendicular sectional view along line l1--4 of Figure 1, and

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view along line 5 5 of Figure 3.

In the drawings, the reference numeral 10 represents a grain car having a pair of wooden door posts 11, between which is formed the door opening 12. The door posts are secured, in the usual manner, between the boards forming the side Wall 13 of the car.

s a longitudinal sectional view Along each post 11 is placed a structural section preferablyof L-shaped iron 14c-hav ing a long leg15 attached to the post and an inwardly projecting short leg 16. Parallel with the short leg 16 is secured a jamb 17 preferably made of angle iron, and forming a perpendicular channel between the jamband the short leg. Betweenthe `two jambs 17, the grain door 18 its loosely so as to `be easily installed in position.

"The short leg 16 carries two o-r more hinges 19 attached thereto by means of screws or rivets and the swinging leaves 20 ofthe hinges carry a iiap 21 adapted to eX- tend across thechannel formed between the j amb and the short leg and engage with the with the jamb 17, as at 28. In the wall and doo-r post 11 is formed a recess 29 for each of the bolts on the'outside of the car, sothat the clamping bolts are at no` time exposed beyond the outer surface of the wall, but are easily engagedby means of asocket wrench 30 which is carried in a pocket 31 rprovided inthe outside of the car wall preferably to that the tightening of `theflap 21` against the door 18 to press it firmly against the long leg 15 ofthe Lshaped iron 14, can be accomplished by turning the clamping bolts 23 by outside or from the inside of the car, as most convenient at the time. For instance, in preparing the car for loading, thedoor would be installed between the jambs 17 while the lla-.ps 21 are open and the clamping bolts 23 are screwed inwardly as far as they will go. The iiaps 21 are then turned inwardly against the door on theirA hinges 20 andthe i clamping bolts 23 tightened fromthe inside of the car. On the other hand, when unloading the car, it would be more convenient to loosen the bolts from the outside by applying the socket wrench to the heads A26 of the clamping bolts. p i

`As the level of the grain, as a rule, only suitable i Vat one end and has va rigidly: attached ,nut 27 at its yother end, and `has threaded connection the left of the door. It will now beevident means of the socket wrench, either from the i reaches about midway up in the car, as indicated at 32, the, flaps 2l, the jambs 17, and structural L-shaped iron 14, do not need to reach up to the top of the car and may terminate, as seen in Figure 3, some distance therefrom, but there is no reason why they cannot extend all the way or any distance up in the car that may be `found most advantageous for different purposes. Usually, the height of door 18 is, however, about three-fourths of that of the opening.

yIt is also evident that the use of the device -is not limited to graincars, alonebut may be applied to cars for carrying lime, salt, or any other perishable material.

As no nails are required to secure the doors, the latter may be used indefinitely and the life of the doors as well as the cars will accordingly be lengtliened considerably. Nor is there any need to apply burlap as is now the custom, and the time in positioning as well as removing the doors is accordingly considerably shortened. Instead of using one solid built-up door for each door opening, different heights of the door can easily be obtained by using loose boards to build y up the door between the ljambs and the tightening ofthe boards is attained in the same manner as already described.

As all leakage isJ now practically eliminated, a great savingv for the railway companics using these clamps will be had and such saving is obvious since the largest percentage of claims against the companies is for leakinggrain car doors.

The advantage of providing the recesses 29 for the securing bolt heads is that there will be no outside obstruction on the car Walls and that the outside sliding doors of the cars can pass in any direction without hindrance.

Having thus described t-he invention, what is claimed as new is:

l. A securing device for doors comprising post engaging the lap and operable. to bind the flap against` the door' andthe door in position extending across the door opening.

2. The combination with the wall of a car having a door opening therein, of a'door litting across said opening, a supporting member on the inner side of the wall of the car, a jamb on the inner side of the wall of Wardly from the inner side ofthe car wallv at the side of the door opening, a flap swingingly attached to said flange and adapted to overlap the edge of the door and bear flat against the inner side thereof, a jamb on the inner side of the car wall between the flange and the door, and a clamp ing bolt threaded through the jamb andprovided with a head at each end, one end of the vbolt being housed in the car wall and operable from the outerv side thereof and the opposite end of the. bolt being loosely engaged in the flap whereby to bind the flap against the door and the' door against the car wall. i i

4. The combination with acar Wall having a door opening therein and a recess in its outer side at the side of the door opening, of a door fitting across said opening, a flange projecting inwardly from the inner side of the car wall, a flap swingingly attached to .said flange and adapted to overlap the edge of the door and bear aga-inst the inner side thereof, a j amb between the flange and the door, and a clamping bolt threaded through the amb and providedA withY a head at each end, the inner heady engaging said flap to swing the same against the door and the outer head being housed in the recess in the outer side of the car wall.

` In testimony whereof I atli'x my signature.

JAMES E. cossnrnr. [n 8.] 

